


Abandonment

by WritLarge



Series: Easter '68 What If? [2]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, Jack Feels, Paternal Bunny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 08:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5532077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritLarge/pseuds/WritLarge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another of my Easter '68 AU ideas.</p><p>What if Bunny caught Jack that day and dropped him through a tunnel, leaving him in Antarctica to get him out of the way for Easter?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Abandonment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eastofthemoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eastofthemoon/gifts).



> Part of my ROTG Secret Santa gift for Earthstar/EastoftheMoon, but since this one was already in progress, I did another as well (currently posted to Tumblr).

His run had come out all right despite the bloody snow. Thankfully, the blizzard hadn’t gotten too nasty before he’d collared the larrikin at the centre of it. Bunny had expected a much nastier winter elemental, but the spirit he’d caught was something different. He hadn’t had time to consider it much, however, and the safest option had been getting the kid out of the way until Easter was over, so he’d used tunnels to dump the sprite in the middle of Antarctica. Bunny wasn’t looking forward to going back, but he couldn’t in good conscience abandon the kid. The boy might not even know where he was if he was a local spirit.

He sighed wearily in the growing morning light. Better get to it while he still had the energy.

Exiting out into the fierce wind and biting cold, he regretted not stopping for his coat. Ah well. Shouldn’t take long to see if the kid was still hereabouts. It had only been a few hours. Taking a moment to focus, he let his senses spread, feeling out whether there was anyone nearby. Not many people in Antarctica. 

A panicky, desperate hope flared painfully into his awareness.

Shit.

Bunny dove back down and came up closer to the edge of the continent where a small blot of blue stood out against the stark monochrome landscape. Snow crunched underfoot as he approached and the winter spirit snapped upright at the sound.

“You came back.” The shocked boy clutched his staff to his chest, wearing nothing more than a ragged hoodie and nearly threadbare pants. Bunny was sure he’d growled something at the kid when he’d left him; something along the lines of staying there until he was done with his googies. Apparently he hadn’t been very convincing.

“Yeah. Look-“ he started, but he didn’t get far.

“Y-You jerk!” A blast of snow was flung in his direction. “Where the hell am I?”

Bunny sputtered and leaped aside, avoiding another spray of sleet. The boy was swinging wildly and couldn’t seem to aim much in his distress. Bunny didn’t want to hurt him. Couldn’t just wear him down, though. The kid had an overabundance of ammunition. They’d be here for days. Dropping down into a tunnel, Bunny emerged again and grabbed his attacker tightly from behind, trapping both the brat’s arms and his ruddy stick.

“Let go!” 

“Not ’til you calm down.” Bunny held fast while the kid thrashed, white hair tickling his chin, until the fight finally went out of his captive. He didn’t let go, though. The boy had gone quiet, but he was still tense and breathing harshly. No telling what he might try. Still. He was just a kid. “Ya gonna stop throwing snow around and let me explain?” 

“Yes,” the boy answered petulantly.

“Right,” he said and carefully released his hold, eyeing the frosted staff warily. If the winter spirit tried to freeze him over again, Bunny was going to snap the thing in two. “We’re in Antarctica.”

“The South pole? Across the equator?” The kid turned to face him, the fear in his eyes an unfortunate contrast to the anger that still marred his face. It made Bunny’s stomach twist. Strewth, but he looked young. “Why would you do that?”

“I didn’t mean to scare you, but you were whipping up that blizzard something fierce on my holiday.” 

“Holiday?” The kid blinked at him, oblivious to the mess he’d made. Of course. Bunny rubbed a hand over his face.

“Easter Sunday. Nevermind. C’mon, I’ll take you back.” The boy looked dubious, gripping his staff like a lifeline. Bunny waited. Kid didn’t have any other options. He’d see sense. And he hadn’t lashed out again. That was a good sign. 

“Okay,” the pale boy finally gave him a shaky nod, looking anything but okay. Damn. He might have been a little hard on the sprite. 

“Here. Let me make it up to you.” He dug into a pouch and offered up a few of his remaining chocolates. Chocolate was always good for lifting the spirits.

The kid took a couple warily and ate one, keeping his eyes on Bunny. Worried he might be abandoned again, maybe. Bunny could tell the moment the taste registered, however, because boy lit up and quickly devoured the rest.

“Best be off, then. Unless you fancy harassing penguins?” That earned him a small smile.

“Nah. I’m good. Do you have any more chocolate?” The hopeful arch of his brow made Bunny want to ruffle the kid’s hair. 

“I’m the Easter Bunny, mate. There’s always more chocolate.” He tossed him a couple more and thumped the ground. “Tunnel goes through my place and then back up near that town where we tussled. All right?”

The kid nodded. Bunny hopped into the tunnel and ran. Feeling a blast of cold on his heels, he glanced back to see the sprite sliding along the downward tilted surface, ice forming beneath his feet. Laughter followed a moment later. Bunny grinned and transitioned them from one passage to the next so that the kid could maintain his momentum on the way up. When they arrived, the boy burst out of the tunnel, flinging himself into the air with a whoop.

Bunny waited while he floated back down to earth.

“This is it, yeah?” he asked.

“Yeah,” came the breathless confirmation as he touched down. The boy had gained some colour, a faint flush of pink in his cheeks, and was unwrapping one of the chocolates he’d stashed in his hoodie pocket. “Thanks. For the chocolate too.”

“No worries. What d’you think of it anyway?” He leaned against a tree. Might as well ask. He hadn’t many tasters to work with and Bunny was always looking for feedback, though the way the boy was licking the remains off of his fingers was telling enough.

“It’s really good. Better than Santa’s.” Well now. Bunny was liking this kid more and more.

“Bloody oath, it is. How do you know North?”

“Uh-“ the kid swallowed a little awkwardly, “I don’t. I mean, I might have tried to break into his Workshop a few times.” His eyes flickered towards Bunny worriedly. Pfft. Like Bunny cared if the kid harassed North a little. It’d keep the bastard on his toes.

“Ha! You got a name?”

“Jack Frost.” Suited him well enough. Frost curled over the kid’s clothing, feathering his shoulders with icy fernlike tendrils, and Jack was a common enough name amongst spirits. 

“You can call me Bunny,” he said. “So, did you ever make it in?”

“Um, in a window a couple times? But I was thrown right back out,” Jack sighed. “I only wanted to see inside, you know? Maybe meet him? People can’t see me and most other spirits would rather ignore me.”

That explained some things. Kid would be starved for attention, left alone like that. Bunny wondered why. The boy was all right when he wasn’t meddling with the weather. Jack shifted on his feet and, in one fluid moment, leapt up to perch atop his staff, bare toes curling around the wood. He balanced there while he waited for Bunny to speak. 

“Well, I can’t speak for the others but I’ve never heard of you, and I imagine you’re not doing yourself any favours with the blizzards and such, ” Bunny pointed out though this was the first weather event of Jack’s that he’d encountered. 

“That was… an accident,” Jack’s shoulders sagged even further. “It was just supposed to be a snow day, but I guess I got kind of distracted…”

“Had a bad day, did you?” 

“Yeah.” Head hanging low, Jack gave the impression of someone resigned to an existence frequently plagued by “bad days”. 

“Hmmm. All right.”

“All right?” Jack straightened and stared at him. “I nearly froze Easter morning.”

“You accidentally mucked up the weather and I unintentionally scared the shit out of you by abandoning you at the south pole. We’ll call it even, yeah?” Bunny pushed away from the tree and held out his hand.

“Yeah,” the kid jumped down and shook Bunny’s hand a little too eagerly. He could feel Jack’s hope flare again, but this time, it was warmer, despite how cool his skin felt. He must’ve been on his own for a long while. Bunny tended to keep to himself by choice, but even he had a few friends to visit on occasion.

A yawn imposed itself on him then and Bunny’s energy took a sudden dip.

“Guess you’re pretty tired after all that, huh?”

“I could use a kip.”

“A what?”

“A nap, Frostbite,” Bunny clarified.

“Well, why didn’t you say so, Cottontail?” Jack quipped back, smiling. He twirled his staff, tapping the end against a nearby boulder before speaking again. “So… I’ll see you around?”

“Don’t see why not.” The smile on the kid’s face dimmed a little. Bunny had no idea what to say. He wasn’t much for idle chatter and he was tired. What did they have in common really? Still, the kid could obviously use a friend if he was desperate enough to be breaking into North’s. Bunny tried pushing off the inevitable exhaustion just a little longer, but he’d been pressing his luck with that jaunt back and forth to Antarctica.

“Whoa.” His vision tilted and he felt Jack’s cool hands again, bracing him upright. “Are you passing out?”

Bunny tried to shake off the light headed sensation overcoming him.

“Oh crap. You totally are. Just, I don’t- wait, can you make one of those tunnels again?” Things were going fuzzy now, but he managed a thump strong enough to open a passage back to the Warren before everything went black.

*****

Bunny awoke with a start. His eyes took in the familiar view of his bedroom, but his ears were caught by the sounds of life drifting into his room from the hall.

Someone else was in his Warren.

Ah. That’s right. The kid. What was his name? Bunny shook off the last clinging threads of sleep and got out of bed. He must have passed out up top. If the boy had helped him down, the tunnels might have closed behind them and trapped him here.

He lumbered down the hall and found his guest in the library, at home all curled up in one of the reading chairs, nary a bit of frost to be seen. 

“Hey kid.”

“You’re awake!” The boy tensed as if expecting a blow, the previously absent chill now dropping the room temperature by a couple degrees. It was a small enough change that it didn’t bother him much. Benefits of being well-furred.

“Yeah. Sorry about that.” Bunny took the other chair. 

“It’s okay.” Bright, wintery blue eyes stared at him. “You can call me Jack, remember?”

“Ah, Jack,” he repeated, chagrinned. “Thank you. Didn’t mean to get you stuck down here.”

“I don’t mind. This place is really cool.” Bunny raised an eyebrow at him and the boy held up his hands. “I didn’t mess with anything! I just… You were out for like a week. I got bored. And I’m not a kid. I’m over three hundred years old.”

“Are you now?” Oh, how ridiculously young three hundred sounded to Bunny. Well, the kid had helped him out and behaved himself if he was telling the truth. That was something. “You hungry?”

“Uh, yeah.” Jack seemed startled by the question. “I could eat.”

“Good.” Bunny pushed himself up. He always had a big appetite around now and Jack looked in desperate need of good meal too. “Let’s go see what we’ve got.”

*****

“You still want to see the Workshop?” Jack nodded eagerly from where he sat crouched in the grass. He’d settled in over the past month, exploring and playing with the late blooming googies. Bunny had offered a tunnel up to wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, but had also made it clear that the boy was welcome to stay. It was the least he could do.

Jack hadn’t been in any hurry to leave, even insisted on doing chores in return for the hospitality he was receiving. He didn’t seem to mind when Bunny still dozed off here and there either. Jack was a good kid, with a playful nature, and hadn’t caused a lick of trouble in the Warren since he’d carried Bunny back home, so he’d allowed the boy some measure of trust. Truthfully, Bunny couldn’t say he minded the company either.

They’d talked about exactly what it was Jack did with his time, which was apparently travelling on the wind to spread winter cheer on a global scale. Nothing that couldn’t be put off a while. But then Bunny had noticed him grow increasingly fidgety over the past few days. A wintery free spirit like him grounded in the ever spring of the Warren? The kid needed to get out.

“You’re aching for some flying too though, aren’t you? How about I drop you off and we meet in a week to go see North?” A week would give the larrikin time to roam and burn off some of that restless energy. And maybe with a set date to meet, Jack would be less afraid of losing their friendship if they parted.

“Really? That sounds great.” Jack leapt up, googies scattering around him, and walked over to Bunny.

“Longyearbyen all right with you?” Bunny liked Norway, folk there knew how to appreciate Easter, and Jack would likely know where the city was, on an island up in the permafrost. “We’ll take him some proper chocolate. He’ll try and stuff you full of fruitcake and cookies, though, so don’t be expecting to do much flying after.” 

Jack laughed at his warning. He’d best get to making another batch of choccy too. Bunny had no intention of letting himself be outdone by North’s too sweet, badly tempered concoctions. It had been a while since he’d visited The Workshop for a chin wag and some friendly competition. Jack would like him if he wasn’t too overwhelmed. Hell, chances were, the exuberant bastard would try and adopt the winter sprite out from under him.

“Longyearbyen in a week. Got it,” Jack smirked at Bunny. “Take it easy while I’m gone, old man.”

“Oi! One time-” Bunny’s mock outrage was quashed by Jack’s giggles. Old man indeed. He never should have confessed his age. “Come on, you little dag.” Bunny chuffed him on the shoulder.

They walked together for a bit, making their way down a tunnel. Jack had little in the way of belongings to carry. Just his clothes, mended as best as Bunny could manage, and his staff. It made Bunny a little sad for the boy. He wondered if Jack would accept some things from him without feeling indebted? The winter sprite insisted that he’d taken care of himself for centuries, but there was care and there was Care.

“Gonna miss me, Kangaroo?” Jack asked lightly as they approached the exit, but Bunny felt the weight of the question. There had likely never been anyone to miss the kid before. He could hardly let that go unanswered. 

“One week,” he thrust a finger at Jack. “Don’t make me chase you down.”

“I’ll be there,” the boy smiled back him. The tunnel exit swirled open, letting in a gust of cold air. “Don’t worry.”

“I’ll worry as I please,” he huffed and Jack’s smile widened before he flung himself up into the air. 

“Later, Bunny!”

“Be seeing you, Jack.”


End file.
